Roommates
by sokki09
Summary: He owned the apartment. She rented one of the rooms. They had a sort of balance throughout the place. They knew one day it could all break.
1. prologue

They were a strange pair; the two of them.

He owned the small two bedroom, one bath apartment. She rented one of the bedrooms.

He always cooked dinner. She always made breakfast.

He was a night owl. She was an early riser.

He liked to hide in his black clothing. She shined brightly in her floral shirts and faded jeans.

There was a balance to the way things went in the small apartment.

They fought, though. A lot.

But they were friends. Sometimes.

Those around them were surprised that they weren't a couple. As they say; opposites attract.

The balance kept them apart. But kept them together. The balance of the pair was the emotions coursing between them.

And one day, the balance broke, shattering onto the floor, causing a war of emotions to ensue.


	2. the ups

Rey had come home from work just in time for dinner. Usually, her job made her late, and she would just heat up what ever delicious thing that Kylo had cooked that night.

Tonight was different. It was nice.

She changed out of her work clothes and came back out into the main room to set the table; keep herself occupied while Kylo cooked.

The kitchen smelled absolutely amazing. Rey had forgotten what it was like to anticipate a meal all because of the smells. She guess it was some sort of pasta, possibly with a meat sauce. She preferred vegetarian but when Kylo cooked it didn't matter.

He came out with two steaming plates, and felt himself slightly smile at Rey's eagerness to eat. He placed the dishes on the two place mats and sat down across from his roommate.

"So how were classes today?" Rey asks, before taking a large bite.

Kylo replies with a curt, "Fine."

He worked as a professor at the local university. Rey's friend Finn tried to take one of his classes and while he did very well in it, he couldn't stand the content any longer, and dropped out.

Finn rarely came over as a result.

"And your work? How was it today?" Kylo asks Rey, though he doesn't really care; he was just being polite.

"Good!" She says with a smile. She begins to talk of a car she was repairing today, but Kylo zones out.

Only when she takes another big bite of pasta and gets sauce all over her face does he pay attention to her again.

She barely seems to notice, if not at all, and a laugh escapes his lips.

"What's so funny?" She asks, offended.

He gestures for her to lean a bit over the table and he reaches up and wipes the sauce from her chin.

"You had a bit of sauce." He says, lamely.

Rey rolls her eyes, "Well I know that now." She still reddens at the embarrassment.

He grins at her with a genuine happiness and she can't help but grin back.

They were at a light point in their balance as night settled upon them.

Only the next morning would the true darkness come.


	3. the downs

Rey was taking too long in the shower.

She already knew it. Kylo would be mad at her for making him late, and he could possibly yell. She always hated that.

It wasn't her fault she had forgotten to shave! All right, well it was, she admitted, but she only realized she hadn't shaved when she had set out shorts to wear to the park with Poe and Finn today.

He's going to be finishing breakfast soon, she thought anxiously.

She quickly shut off the shower water and wrapped her hair in one towel and her body in another, before checking the time. It was his turn in the bathroom by now.

"Rey, are you done yet?" She heard his irritated voice come through the door.

"Almost, hang on."

"No, there is no more hang on, now get out! I'm already late as it is, I can't be even more late!" He all but yelled; his temper over coming him.

"What do you want me to do? Walk out with no clothes? You are making me waste time by arguing!" She defended.

"Oh, so this is my fault?"

"Sure it Is! You're the one who bought the apartment with only one bathroom!" She shouted at the door.

"You're the one who rented it! If you hate it so much, leave!" He yelled back at her.

She took a step back. In all their fighting they had endured, he had never once suggested that she leave. That had never come up; or in such a quick and irrational way.

Rey opened the door, still in her towel.

"Maybe I will leave." She said quietly. "Bathroom's all yours."

"Thank you." Kylo said sarcastically, "It's not like I own the place or anything."

When he closed the door, she could hear him mutter under his breath, "Damn, the water's probably cold by now!"

She walked turned and walked into her room. She quickly changed and brushed her hair out. She heard the shower come on, and a 'Fuck!' come from the bathroom, presumably from the now cold water.

She packed the little things she had into her lone suitcase.

Even with the little balance the two of them had, she felt that it wasn't enough. Wasn't worth the fighting they constantly pounded into each other. Was there any actually hope that they could change, as Rey had so hoped there was even a small chance for?

She knew from the moment she walked in that she would eventually have to walk out. Who knew that the last straw would be so childish; the right to the bathroom in the morning?

Rey left her share of rent for the month on the table, with a note; 'I can't do this anymore. Whatever it is.'

When Kylo came out of the shower, he expected to see her at the door, waiting to criticize him as he had done to her.

Only after he saw the note and realized that she had left, did he realize what he had lost.


	4. the aftermath

Rey knew that if she went to Finn and Poe's apartment, asking to spend a few days crashing on their couch, they would know that something happened. She didn't want to deal with their pestering questions, or the 'I told you so,' glares from Finn, so she went to the only place she would feel welcomed and still be comfortable.

Luke's.

Luke Skywalker was her unofficial dad. He found her on the streets when she was only fifteen, and took her in as his daughter. He never had any desire to gain custody over her, because he knew that in a few years she would be able to leave and live on her own. He also knew that she had never gotten a proper education, and that throwing her into high school would be a bad idea, so he taught her all he knew about living a normal life, as well as some literature and math skills.

She had the feeling as though he was the father she never had. And she was grateful for that.

She showed up at his door around 10 am, with her bag of stuff and a sad expression on her face. She asked if she could crash at his home for an undetermined, hopefully small amount of time, and quickly put her things in her old room before going to work, with the promise of coming home with an explanation.

Luke knows better than to meddle in her life, even though he knows it has something to do with his nephew and the girl. As much as he wants answers, he also needs the patience to get them.

Kylo Ren thinks of nothing but Rey for the entire day. All throughout the classes and lectures of the day, he has a hard time keeping on topic. At lunch, he eats alone, as always, but he feels much more empty.

Why was he feeling so lonely?

All she was was an auto shop repairman, a little nuisance he had somehow been persuaded by his uncle to let live in his apartment. Her bright and bubbly personality severely contrasted his timid, dark demeanor, but despite the opposite characteristics, it worked.

They had a near perfect balance that just worked, and why he hadn't truly noticed this before baffled him.

He went home to an empty house, which wasn't unusual, since Rey often worked late, but it felt different. He didn't have to leave part of his dinner in the fridge for her to heat up in a few hours, or leave the door unlocked because she never had a key. He felt like he was completely alone.

A pang of sadness went down his spine as he remembered that this was his doing, his fault. A part of him reminded him that is was also her fault, her decision to leave. He couldn't have stopped her.

But now he wished he had. Somehow, some way, he wished he had found a way to make her stay.

He wanted her back.

More than he should.

Kylo finished his dinner and retired to his room; dejected and ready to huddle under the covers on his bed, and ignore the rest of the world.

Rey told Luke everything. She told him about the way they lived, and how they got along. The relationship was a strange one, but Luke listened on without any interruptions, which surprised Rey. She told him about their latest fight, and as she looked back on it, it was one of the silliest things she'd ever done.

She stormed out because he yelled for her to hurry up in the bathroom.

But it was enough to break the balance, she realized. One step took too close to the edge of the cliff that they lived on, and it all ended up falling apart.

She retired to her bedroom, but even after she was tucked into bed, she didn't feel as if the day had ended quite yet.

He was grabbing his keys and driving into the small suburban neighborhood that his uncle lived in before he even knew what he was doing. He parked his car in the driveway, turning off the ignition, and leaning back in his seat.

He sighed, what was he doing here?

He knew exactly what he was doing here.

He wanted her back in his home. Safe and welcomed, happy and content.

Why he wanted these things, though, he still wasn't sure.


	5. the confrontation

It wasn't Rey that stood at the door, but his Uncle Luke.

The man had taken him in for many of his childhood nights when his parents fought, and told him stories of his infamous grandfather, but the man never listened to him when Ren believed that he could fix the problems between his parents.

"Luke." He said, trying to keep up his rough exterior, but he knew that the look on his face said it all.

To be honest, Luke wasn't expecting to find his nephew on the other side of the door. The younger man had long ago grown taller than him, but on this late evening, he seemed to slouch, as if he didn't was to be the dominant man he had grown up to be. His posture and the look in his eyes reminded Luke of the teenage Ben that used to inhabit his body before he truly grew into the man he is today.

"Ben." Luke says, and can't help the surprise that carries through his voice.

Kylo slightly winces at the use of his given name, but it doesn't seem to affect him as much as it used to.

"I know why you're here." Luke tells him. "You've come for her, haven't you?"

"Yes."

Luke opens the door wider, and gestures for him to come in. "She's in her old room."

Ren walks down the small hallway towards her room. He still isn't sure why he is there. He knew she would come here. Her obnoxious friends would ask too many questions.

He hesitates before he knocks on the door. He hears the creak in the bed springs of her old room, and then suddenly, she's in front of him. She looks surprised to see him, and he can tell by the look her eyes - that sort of defiance against everything - that she wants nothing other than to slam the door in his face. Yet, she doesn't. And even she is left wondering why she doesn't.

"Why are you here?" Kylo finally asks.

"I could ask you the same question." Rey retorts, folding her arms over her chest.

He looks at her, with a near plead in his eye, and she rolls her eyes at him before speaking again, "You told me to leave. So I did."

"I didn't mean it literally!"

"How was I supposed to know?" Rey says, "You always sound so angry, I never know if you're kidding or not!"

"Well I wasn't serious, so come home." Kylo responds.

There is a silence that fills the air for a moment.

Kylo speaks again, "Just, come on, come home."

Rey hesitates. "Do you even want me to?"

There's another pause.

"Yes," Kylo tells her. "I want you to live with me. The place is lonely without you." He stares at her hazel brown eyes, "I miss you."

"You miss me?" Rey still sounds hesitant and unconvinced of the thought that Kylo Ren could ever miss her.

He was always the slightly older man that she shared an apartment with. Acquaintances, she would say. But the way he was so boldly looking at her made her think twice about the entire thing.

She wanted to go stay in the apartment with him. She knew she did.

He wasn't going to leave until she came with him. He knew that for a fact.

"Of course I miss you." He assures her, his voice low in a whisper, as if it can't be heard by anyone else. "I miss your breakfasts and how you can go on and on about boring old car facts, and how you don't seem to care what you look like to anyone else as long as you like it."

He unfolded her arms and held them in his own. It was a new gesture, but it felt like it was something they did all the time. He looked down at her, and found that she was staring up at him. He slightly leaned down, and she raised her chin upward, and their lips met in the middle.

She tasted sweet to him, and it was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. She felt the same, the kiss soft, and savored upon by the both of them.

"Will you come home?" He asks as they both pull away.

She blinks, and gives a slight nod, and wraps an arm around his neck and up into his hair, pulling him back down to another kiss.

They both pack what few things that Rey had brought with her, and they walk hand in hand out to Kylo's car, and Luke waves goodbye from the front porch with a knowing smile.

Kylo drove his car back to the apartment complex, with quiet music playing in the background. He couldn't keep the slight smile from playing upon his lips, and when he looked over at Rey, she seemed the same. They walked back into the apartment together, hand in hand, both content with the change in the air.

While they still had many ups and downs to come, there must always be good and bad in a balance. And finally, they had found the balance. It was within each other.


End file.
